Monthly Archives:

There is perhaps no stronger international relationship than the diplomatic bond between the United States and Canada, but beneath all that warm-and-fuzzy chumminess lies a rivalry spanning generations. Yanks are fond of clowning our neighbors to the north for everything from their unflappable manners and melodramatic high schools to the scientifically proven fact that they’re all scared of the dark. Many Canucks, meanwhile, consider us to be arrogant dummies with wack healthcare, a penchant for passing the buck (passing the loonie?) and nothing but boorish disdain for anyone residing outside our 50 awesome states. (OK so maybe Canada’s not alone in all that.) With such close borders, it has to be this way. We’ll always be allies — but we’ll always have a bit of a score to settle. The eighth installment of COOK’s Open Stove competition series addressed this age-old struggle for cultural supremacy in the most dangerous death arena of them all: the kitchen.

This year I was given the mission and responsibility of providing Thanksgiving dinner with its main attraction – the turkey. It was a great honor indeed that my friends believed in my cooking skills enough to trust me with such a task. But then I realized that I’ve cooked many birds in my life of many shapes and sizes, but I have never handled anything like a turkey before, and I have no idea how to cook something of its proportion in my oven…? What to do, what to do? How do I make sure I don’t screw it up? What happens if it comes out dry or, God forbid, undercooked? Thanksgiving will be ruined!

You’re probably still hung over from your gravy-soaked Thanksgiving weekend, so we figured it’s as good a time as any to take a quick look back on one of the wackiest (turkey-free!) events of the past few months: a raucous costumed dinner on Halloween night, starring COOK’s friends from the nearby a.kitchen. Sous chef Val Stryjewskiis a COOK regular, but for this all-offal affair, he took on the persona of zombie Georges Perrier, complete with a legit blood-spattered Le Bec Fin coat he saved from his days working for the legendary Frenchman.